Plants, Plants and More Plants: Ed & Katie's London Wedding

When I look at photographs from today's real wedding, I can't help but think, "what a cool couple!" Katie and Ed are clearly very creative (the wedding is peppered with Ed's designs) and they poured the full spectrum of their personalities into their fabulously eccentric London city wedding - we're talking edible cat skulls, German photobooth replicas, and obscenity-laden cakes! Kaye Ford of Fordtography Weddings captured the day in great detail, from their Islington Town Hall ceremony to the raucous reception at The Depot, London, and we're so glad she did, because we think loads of couples will soon be borrowing their ideas!

Katie tells us that she met Ed on Tinder. "We both swiped right, three days later we were in Dragon Bar in Shoreditch getting to know each other. Three months after that, we were Berlin. And a little after that, Ed told me he loved me at The Magic Garden in Battersea, just before he accidentally punched me in the nose! Since then, our lives have been filled with travelling, drinking, cuddles with the cat, and fajitas. We actually consider our anniversary as the day we first met, because I think we both knew we had found something worth holding on to."

Katie's bridesmaids have got such a sharp, eclectic vibe! Mix and match dresses in various shades of green was an inspired choice!

Katie channeled her everyday style in her wedding-day look, which meant she was totally comfortable on the day - this ensemble is giving us updated Victorian vibes.

This couple are unique in that neither of them paid a penny for their wedding outfits! "I won my wedding dress, and I am eternally grateful to Calm Amongst The Chaos for making me feel incredible," Katie says. "Ed (kinda) also won his suit. He entered a competition to win one, and while he didn’t, they loved his competition entry, so gave him one anyway. For us both to get dream, bespoke outfits gifted to us was just out of this world."

The couple's engagement was far from the stereotypical candlelit dinner job, in fact, it was pretty sensational! Katie sets the scene; "We're out with their friends at a pub, it’s our friend Natalie’s birthday. I'm talking to my friend Hannah about weddings... I want to marry Ed, it’s decided. My friend tells me, 'F*ck it, if you want to marry him, ask him!' An hour later and we’re queuing up to get into another bar. It’s outside KFC in Brixton. I ask Ed if he will marry me, but he won’t. Not unless I get down on one knee. It’s tipping it down, but I do it anyway. He says yes. Everybody cries."

The couple quickly settled on their priorities for the big day. "We wanted great music (Ed picked The Jukebox Jets and people haven’t stopped complimenting them. Surf rock should be found at all weddings), it had to have a photo booth, it had to be relatively casual, and it had to have plants, plants, plants and more plants.

The couple's visual theme was "botanical realness" - they get bonus points for the RuPaul reference!

Have you ever seen a cooler groom squad? These guys are living proof that self-styled bridal parties can work a treat!

The couple tell us that they were careful to reject any wedding traditions that didn't resonate with them or weren't in line with their personal values (we discuss some popular alternatives in our post on how to have a feminist wedding). "We decided to walk down the aisle together," Katie explains, by way of an example. "We think a lot of wedding traditions are stuffy and stale, so we decided to go into this marriage with a level pegging as I didn’t like the idea of being ‘given away’."

It looks like this ceremony was a LOL-filled one!

When asked for advice to pass on to other couples, Katie says, "we shouldn’t say it, but sometimes sweat the small stuff," referring to the little touches that make the day unique. "We’re never going to forget our ring bearer shouting ‘Ohmagerrddd’ as he handed over the rings (yes, that was prompted), the profanities on our cake and the silver pins that we designed as favours for our guests. Getting married is the fun, big, big thing, but those little things are super close to our heart."

Katie tells us that the wedding speeches were a huge highlight for both of them "They were so lovely. I did one (yes, I did it ad-lib, and I swore often), my mum did one and my best friend did one, alongside a speech from Ed and a couple of his groomsmen. No penis gags, just love all round."

Time for a quick smooch under a bridge!? Always!

The couple tell us that they were instantly impressed by their reception venue, The Depot. "It was probably how casual and easy it was. We chose a pub because we didn’t want an overbearing venue, and a pub felt familiar to us. It helped that the venue was so accommodating to what we wanted on the day, within our budget, and that it had a garden."

The couple chose a colour palette of white, green and brass - how much do you love these festive tassel garlands!?

Katie and Ed asked stylist Emily Woodhall to help fill the Depot with greenery. "She put together an amazing spread of decorations and plants for us, but we also used a lot of our own furniture and props, including deer skulls, and an antique drinks cart."

Ed put his graphic design background to work on countless elements of the day. "He created our table plan, the cover to our photobooth book, the wedding invites, the pin badges, nearly everything. He did such a f*cking good job, it makes me want to cry just thinking about it."

This is definitely a One Fab Day first - the couple made edible cat sculls for their cake table! "We handmade them using a mould," Katie says. "Every Halloween we theme our costumes around cat skulls in some capacity, and it reminds us of our cat Iggy to boot."

This is my kind of wedding cake! I love the retrofabulous icing, and the cheeky slogan, of course!

The couple tell us that they jetted off to Lisbon for their honeymoon. "We would recommend it the world over. Yes, 36°C almost killed us every day (we have Irish blood and the Factor 50 struggle is real) but we kayaked, we slept in an authentic Portuguese windmill, we almost adopted a cat, we went on a jeep tour, and we drank a filthy amount of caipirinhas."

We're totally besotted with the couple's photo booth! "We paid extra to have the sign above the photo booth exchanged for one to match the Photoautomats in Berlin. It reminded us of our first holiday together, and it was an absolute bloody laugh."

This greenery backdrop is another Emily Woodall creation. What a showstopper!

Cheers! At this point, we have to say a huge thank you to Ed and Katie for giving us the back story to their big day, and, of course, to Fordtography Weddings for sharing the gorgeous photographs.